Finding Honesty
by animekitten42
Summary: Yona, Yoon, Hak, Jaeha, Shin-ah, Kija, and Zeno are traveling in the winter. They decide to stop for a while in a forest because of all of the snow. But, running into soldiers from another land leaves them searching for answers.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Yona and her companions were trekking through the snowy forest. It the first winter since Yona and Hak had fled from the castle and begun their journey. It was cold and snowing, making for terrible weather to be outside in. The only upside of the heavy snow was that the footprints that they left behind were buried in snow almost immediately. This made it easier to avoid being followed.

After a few hours of hiking in the bitter cold, the seven of them decided to set up camp. They set up the tents as quickly as possible in order to keep the snow from piling on their shoulders. Hak, Jaeha, and Shin-ah went out to see if they would be able to find a living thing for them to eat. Meanwhile, Yona, Kija, and Zeno went to find dry wood for a fire. Yoon stayed in the tent to made medicine with his current supplies.

While they were out, Hak, Jaeha and Shin-ah caught a four rabbits. They were about to head back to the tent in order to prevent freezing from the cold, when Shin-ah stopped and raised his mask over his forehead. Hak and Jaeha asked what was wrong.

"People" he muttered.

Immediately, Hak and Jaeha braced themselves for a possible fight.

"Who?" Hak asked

"Soldiers"

"Really?" Jaeha asked

"They're chasing someone." Shin-ah realized.

"Are they chasing Yona or Yoon?" Hak asked carefully.

"A young girl," Hak and Jaeha tensed "with black hair."

"We should go and check it out." Jaeha decided. "Lead the way, Shin-ah."

The three of them braced themselves against the cold, and headed in the direction of the people. The snow seemed to be slowing a little bit as they were able to see more than 5 feet in front of themselves. When they saw the situation up close, the three of them stopped in their tracks.

There were about 40 soldiers going after one person. Hak and Jaeha weren't able to see the person very well but, it was apparent that it was a girl. She had black hair that reached the back of her knees. Her clothes were worn and much too thin for the weather. Despite all that, she was evading the soldiers very well. The young girl narrowly dodged trees and made as many turns as she could. Plus, every once in a while, she would grab onto a lower branch and catapult herself into the tree it belonged to.

After she had jumped into a tree, a few of the soldiers drew their bows and shot at her with arrows. But, she lithely dodged all of the arrows and jumped to the next tree were she jumped down. Once she had jumped down, the chase resumed. This time though, a few of the archers shot arrows at her while running. Without even looking, she dodged those arrows. Soon afterward, a few of the archers stopped and knelt on the ground near a small clearing.

After vanishing for a little bit, the girl came back into sight and ran into the clearing. The soldiers that were following her surrounded the clearing. The girl observed this without looking worried. Then, the soldiers went into battle. A few entered the clearing with spears and swords. With these, the soldiers attacked the girl.

This shook the three of them out of their shock. How could they use weapons on a small, defenseless girl? Jaeha took out one of the men in the trees while Hak and Shin-ah began making their way into the clearing through the heavily armed soldiers. They didn't make it very far before most of the other soldiers began entering the clearing as a group. When they looked, the three of them froze.

The girl that was being targeted by all of these trained men was not at all defenseless. She was dual wielding swords that she seemed to know how to use very well. It seemed as if an entire war had broken out against one young child. Archers rained arrows down from the trees while swordsmen and many others with weapons attacked from the ground.

The child seemed to be handling her own. She would slice through a volley of arrows with one sword while facing several soldiers with the other. Suddenly, she jumped onto the helmet of a soldier. Two arrows, one from both her left and her right sliced the air that she had just been standing in. With incredible balance, she jumped from the heads of one soldier to the next. After a few minutes, two more arrows flew out of the same areas. This time though, the arrows weren't aimed for the same spots. The young girl noticed them both and dodged the first easily. The second caught her in the back. Rather than falling, she landed on her feet and continued to fight the enemy soldiers.

This made Hak and Jaeha angry. Why would they work so hard to hurt this girl? They took out the men with renewed strength. But, before they could take out all of the archers, two more arrows pierced her. After the three of them took out the archers, the little girl finished off the last of the 30-some mercenaries that were going after her head on. Shin-ah pulled Hak and Jaeha behind a bush. They were about to protest when he put his finger to his lips and then pointed at the girl. He wanted to watch what she would do.

She then sheathed her swords and pulled out rope from her sleeves. Using the rope, she tied up the soldiers that she had knocked out. Once they were all tied to the trees surrounding the clearing, she pulled out the arrows that were still embedded in her skin. Then, the little girl looked around the battle field and collected the arrows that were still intact. She then stared in the direction of the three behind the bush, giving them the eerie feeling that she that they were there. They thought she was going to come and attack them but instead, the girl turned and headed into the forest. Once she was gone, they all let out sighs of relief.

"I was sure that she would attack us." Hak commented. Jaeha and Shin-ah both agreed.

"Shall we follow her?" Jaeha suggested.

Shin-ah shook his head and pointed to the soldiers, some of which were regaining consciousness.

"I agree it will be safer but, she was badly wounded." Jaeha said

"She noticed our presence." Shin-ah argued.

"He has a point. She would probably attack us if we followed her." Hak conceded

"So, we extract information from them?" Jaeha asked looking at the soldiers. Shin-ah nodded.

When they got closer, they could hear some of the soldiers grumbling. "Why didn't the arrows work?" "We coated them each with enough poison to take down to full grown horses instantly."

"Would you mind telling us why you did that?" Jaeha asked

The men that were tied up looked at the three of them; each with a deadly weapon in their hand and a dark look on their face. The soldiers gulped fearfully. But, they agreed to tell everything that they knew.

They said that they were from a land across the ocean. Their queen had given instructions to them to bring the girl to her either dead or alive. There had been other infantries that had been after her but they had all been wiped out. Apparently she was so strong; she had taken them all out. The soldiers would either have one of their bones smashed to bits or they would see that happen to one of their friends and they would quit. The order had been sent out a few years ago but still, no one knew her name or exact hair color as she never told anyone her name, and she knew how to dye her hair. They had no malice towards the girl but, they had been given orders by the queen of their land. If anyone dared disobey her orders, they would lose their head.

"Did the king of this country allow you all to come in and hunt down this girl?" Jaeha asked.

"I don't think so." said one of the soldiers. "But, the heads of the fire, earth, and water tribes allowed it so, we were forced to come."

"What does your queen have against this young girl in the Kouka Kingdom?" Hak asked.

"We aren't sure but, I think she used to live in our kingdom." Another soldier answered.

"Is there anything else you know?" Jaeha asked, flashing his knives.

"No. Please don't kill us." A frightened man said.

"If we cut your ropes, you must leave and leave the girl alone." Jaeha said menacingly.

The men all nodded and swore never to even come close to her again. Once the men were gone, the three realized what time it was. They had to head back or else, their comrades would worry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"We should keep this from Yona for now." Hak decided as they headed back.

"Why?" asked Jaeha curiously.

"She would go straight out to the freezing cold weather and wouldn't stop until she found this girl." Hak said.

"That does seem like something she would do." Jaeha agreed.

So it was decided not to do anything for now. As they walked back, the snow began picking up again. They were thankful for the lack of wind in the forest as they trudged through the deep snow. When the three of them got back, everyone was in the tent, out of the cold.

"Where were you guys?" Yona asked as soon as they entered the tent.

"We were having trouble finding anything." Jaeha said holding up two of the rabbits they had caught while Hak did the same.

"Still, don't make us worry like that you guys." Yoon said, irritated.

After Yoon made them dinner, they all fell asleep huddled together because of the cold. That night, they had an unexpected visitor. When they had finished their goal, they vanished into the freezing darkness.

The next morning, they all awoke and noticed immediately that something was different. The top of the tent didn't look like it would collapse under the weight of the snow. Plus, it seemed a lot warmer than the previous night. They each went out to see what had happened. The first thing that the seven noticed was the lack of snow around the tent. Looking up, there was a large white sheet acting as a canopy over their heads. There was also a pile of dry firewood and a sack filled with other supplies. It seemed that someone had cleared the snow, hung the canopy over their heads, and left extra gifts without anyone noticing.

Hak and Jaeha were the first out of the tent. As soon as they had taken it all in, Shin-ah took them aside. He had been on watch when the visitor had come, and knew exactly who had done it. So, as soon as everyone had come out, and Yoon had started the fire, they decided to make an announcement.

"Does anyone know who did this for us?" Yoon asked.

"It wasn't when Zeno was on watch." Zeno announced.

"Then, Shin-ah do you know who did all this for us?" Yona asked.

"About that…"Jaeha began. "You know how we were a bit late last night?"

"Yes." Yoon said.

"We ran into some trouble during that time." Hak said.

"We're in a huge forest in the middle of the winter and you ran into trouble." Yoon complained. "Can't you circus freaks go anywhere without trouble?"

"Calm down, mother. It wasn't our fault." Hak consoled.

"There was a young girl being chased by a bunch of soldiers." Jaeha explained.

"When she was cornered, we took out the archers." Hak told them.

"She was very impressive and was able to defeat the rest of the soldiers alone." Jaeha marveled.

"Afterwards, we got the soldiers that she had tied up to tell us what they knew." Hak finished.

"You didn't follow her afterwards?" asked Yona.

"She would have sensed our presence." Shin-ah told them.

"She probably would have attacked us." Hak added.

"Still….." Yona trailed off.

"Yona dear, the soldiers told us that she had been chased for a long time." Jaeha

"So that's who did all of this for us?" Yoon asked.

Hak nodded and said, "Shin-ah says that he saw her doing it while he was on guard duty."

"I would like to meet this girl." Yona announced, "Shin-ah, can you find her."

Shin-ha shook his head.

"Why not?" asked Yona, crestfallen.

"It's snowing very hard right now." Shin-ah explained.

"I won't allow you to go out right now, Princess. You'll get a cold." agreed Hak.

For the rest of the day, they stayed under the canopy. The snow kept falling but, they were all comfortable. Hak got a fire going and Yoon and Zeno used some of the rations they received to make food. Yoon also made some medicine from many of the herbs that were in the sack. Yona kept looking at the area around the canopy to see if the snow stopped. Eventually, the sky darkened and they went into the tents to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After Jae-ha finished watch, he woke Shin-ah to take over. The snow began to slow and everything was quiet. Staring into the night, he looked for anything abnormal. The first thing he saw was after the snow had stopped falling. It was far away but, there was something wrong. He went to awaken Hak who was going to take the last watch.

After saying that he needed to check something out, Shin-ah headed out to see the situation up close. In the mouth of a cave, there was a fire lit. Someone had been sitting next to it, prompting him to go closer. When he got close enough to see it clearly, he noticed that the situation was worse than he had originally thought. It was the girl they had seen two days before. But, she looked very sick. Worried, Shin-ah headed back to get help.

Upon returning, he told Hak what he had seen and they both agreed that it was serious. So, they went to wake up Yoon. Hak covered Yoon's mouth, both waking him up, and preventing him from making noise that would awaken the others. Quietly, they exited the tent, and explained what had happened. Yoon agreed to do what he could and followed Shin-ah to the cave.

The girl was lying on the ground, her breathing uneven. Yoon felt her forehead and checked her pulse. He decided that it was simply a cold. In order to help her, he began rummaging through his pack to see if he had the ingredients to make the right medicine. After a little bit, Yoon realized that he had run out of the Senjusou plant that they had received from Captain Gi-Gan. So, he began rummaging to see if he had another herbal medicine that could help her recover.

While rummaging, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked down and saw that the girl was awake, and trying to sit up. When she saw that she had gotten his attention, she weakly pointed towards the back of the cave. Looking in the direction she pointed, Yoon saw some light peeking through the wall, illuminating beautiful flowers.

"Is that…..?" he began.

After walking over, he saw that he was right. It was what he had thought. Here, it the back of the cave, there were Senjusou plants. There was a very large amount that grew in neat rows. Yoon picked some and began making them into medicine. Once he had fed her the medicine, she fell asleep and her breath began to even out. Her fever also went down significantly.

They elected to watch over the girl until she woke up, to make sure that she was fine. While they did they looked around the cave. In the right walls, there were shelves cut out of the stone. These shelves held up many different types of medicines and dried food provisions. There were all kinds of fabric folded neatly in a corner. Near the folded fabrics, there were two sheets of cloth laid atop each other with a third folded one on top. They decide d that that was her bed, and laid her on one and put the other fabric over her as a blanket. Along the other side were weapons, hung on the walls. There were several bows, a lot of arrows, knives and a lot of swords. Underneath these weapons, were piles upon piles of dry tinder.

When they looked out of the side of the cave with the Senjusou plants and saw a steep cliff. Looking down, there was a frozen lake below. They returned to the fire after observing the whole of the cave.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

They didn't have to wait very long for the little girl to wake up. She didn't make any noise but, Shin-ah was facing in her direction and walked over when he saw her beginning to move. When she sat up, Yoon checked her temperature. Surprisingly, it had dropped back to normal.

"Are you okay?" Yoon asked, concerned.

She nodded, studying him and Shin-ah.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

The girl shook her head silently.

"Will you be fine if we leave?" Yoon questioned.

She nodded her head vigorously.

"My friends wish to meet you." Yoon told her. "Are you okay with that?"

At this, she hesitated and then nodded her head slowly.

"In the morning, we'll bring them all over here then." He announced.

So, they returned to camp. Nothing had changed so Yoon and Shin-ah retired to the tents and fell asleep immediately. Once they woke up, Jaeha and Kija had already gotten up and were sitting around the campfire. By the time Yoon had finished making breakfast for all of them, Yona and Zeno had also gotten up. While they were all eating, Yoon made an announcement.

"Last night, we helped the little girl that Hak, Jaeha, and Kija saw the other day." He announced.

"Really?" asked Yona excitedly.

"She got a cold, and I gave her some medicine and she fully recovered not to long afterwards."

"So that means she's still nearby." Kija noted.

"Yes, and she has agreed to meet everyone." Yoon told them.

"That's wonderful, Yoon." Yona said.

"Shall we go then?" asked Jaeha.

Shin-ah led them all to the cave that the girl was staying in. When they got there, she was ready for them. The young girl was stoking the fire when they entered. She had lit up torches that lined the walls, and pulled back some of the leafy vines that blocked the light from the back of the cave. The cloth that made up her bed was neatly folded and put away. Around the fire, she had put eight pieces of cloth that were likely meant as seats.

They all sat around the fire, on the cloth. It seemed strange that she had set the correct amount of seats for all of them, despite no one telling her.

Yona decided to start with a "Hi"

The girl waved hello to them all. They looked at her, observing what they could. She looked about 12, with long, dark brown hair. She was wearing an outfit similar to Hak's the biggest differences were that the cloth was much thinner, and it was beige rather than dark blue. Her eyes were dark blue with flecks of gold in them. Her hands and face had many nics, and scratches on them and peeking out from under her clothes, they noticed bandages around her chest.

"You live here?" Yona asked politely.

The girl looked at her and nodded. She seemed to be seizing them up, just as they were doing with her.

"Aren't you lonely?" Jaeha asked.

The girl simply shrugged.

"Princess, isn't it polite for us to give our names before we start asking questions?" Hak mentioned, shooting a look at Jaeha.

"Right, I'm Yona."

"Yoon."

"Kija."

"Zeno!"

"Jaeha"

"Hak."

"This is Shin-ah" Yona finished, pointing at the masked man.

"What's your name, kid?" asked Jaeha

The girl grabbed a stick lying next to her and traced something out. Yona, who was sitting right next to her read it out.

"Nao?" she asked. "That's very pretty. Does it mean something?"

The girl nodded. Then, she wrote something else on the ground.

"Honest." Yona read.

"Okay, Nao, why are you being followed by soldiers?" Kija asked.

She looked at Hak and Jaeha.

"I don't know how she knew that we someone told us but apparently, the queen from a land across the ocean wished for her to be captured, dead or alive." Hak explained.

"Why?" Yona asked, bewildered.

Nao shrugged and looked towards at the entrance. Then, she suddenly tensed. They were about to ask what was wrong when she put her finger to her lips. She then picked up a large bucket and walked over to the entrance. She scooped up a lot of snow and then returned. Heading to the back of the cave, she skirted around the Senjusou plants. When she got to the edge of the cliff, she dumped the snow down. They were all wondering why she did that until there was some yelling and clanging of metal. Out of curiosity, Hak went to the Cliffside and looked down.

"There were soldiers that were trying to scale the cliff but when she dumped the snow, it probably surprised them and made them loose their balance. Then, the top ones fell onto the lower ones, knocking them all down." Hak marveled.

"How did you know they were there?" Zeno asked Nao.

Nao tapped her ears.

"You heard them?" Kija exclaimed.

She nodded.

"Your senses seem to be heightened." Hak noted.

Nao once again nodded.

"You have really been chased for several years." Jaeha said.

A sad look passed over her face and she nodded again.

"Would you like to join us then?" Yona suggested.

Nao looked very surprised at that question. She looked at all of their faces as if assessing whether Yona was joking. Then, she hesitantly shook her head.

"Okay, I won't force you to join us." Yona ceded, "Before we go, can I hear your voice?"

A sad look crept across her face and something happened that none of them expected. Nao began to cry. She didn't make any noise but, tears streamed down her face and she couldn't seem to stop them. Yona went over and hugged her.

"She's been chased for a while right?" Hak asked, "If she's been alone for a long time, she wouldn't talk very much so, maybe she doesn't know anymore."

"That seems strange." Kija interjected.

"Nao dear, how long has it been since you last spoke?" Jaeha asked.

Nao thought for a second and held up 5 fingers.

"It's probably not days so, 5 weeks?" Yoon deducted.

She shook her head.

"5 months?" Zeno asked.

She shook her head again.

"5 _years_?"

She nodded. Yona looked at her and hugged her again, tears filling her eyes.

"Please come with us." Yona pleaded, "You'll be so lonely if you don't."

"Besides, you won't have to fight alone anymore." Zeno announced, "Zeno's friends are strong."

Nao looked at them, tears forming in her eyes. Yona held her at arm's length and wiped away her tears.

"Please." Yona asked again.

Nao hesitated again but Jaeha picked her up, princess style and she relented.

"There are many valuable supplies in here so; we need to take as much as we can." Yoon announced.

They all began collecting what they thought they might need. Yoon began raiding her shelves of medicine and food with the help of Shin-ah and Zeno. Jaeha went over to the Senjusou plants and began collecting them. Nao, Hak, and Yona looked at the wall of weapons. Hak took a couple of the knives while Yona grabbed one of the bows and a quiver of arrows. Nao grabbed five of the swords that were in better condition. Two of them were almost as tall as she was so, when she slung them over her shoulder in their scabbards, they almost touched the floor. Then, she also grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows. When Jaeha finished collecting all of the plants, he went over to the wall of weapons and grabbed a few throwing knives.

Nao went over to the fabrics and grabbed a few of them and stuffed them into a bag that she had in another corner. Once everyone had gotten together what they thought would be important, they headed back to the campsite.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When they returned, it was around lunch time. Yoon began making something while the rest of them put their new supplies away. Once Nao put her supplies away, she went over and began helping Yoon in preparing food.

It began to snow again so, they were confined to the small area around the campsite. The day was spent sitting by the fire, telling stories. First, they told the story of how Kouka was formed to explain Kija's arm and the reason Shin-ah wore his mask. Then, they told the stories of their pasts and adventures. But, the seven of them were left wondering about Nao's past as she couldn't tell them.

The day passed quickly that way and eventually, they all drifted off to bed. Nao was offered a place in the smaller tent but, she looked uncomfortable and elected to sleep outside. She fell asleep sitting against a tree, under a makeshift blanket. Her peaceful sleeping face made it hard to believe that she had been chased by soldiers for more than 5 years.

She woke up before dawn, when Zeno was on watch. As soon as she awoke, a tear traced down her face.

"Miss, are you okay?" Zeno asked concerned.

Nao nodded and quickly wiped away her tears.

"Tell me when you find you voice okay?" Zeno suggested.

She opened her mouth and mouthed something. But, she couldn't seem to make a sound.

Zeno spent the rest of the time before morning trying to lift her sprits. He got a smile out of her but not a laugh. When Hak came out of tent, Nao began making breakfast. When Yoon came out, he noted how nice it was to not be the only one able to make food, and began helping prepare breakfast. As the eight of them ate, the snow slowed to a stop. So, they broke camp, not knowing when they would have to stop again.

While the group walked, Yona talked to Nao. She hoped that being so open would help her newest comrade unlock her words. Eventually, she switched tactics. Yona tried to teach her how to talk. But, seeing as she had never taught anyone to talk before, it was very difficult. Yona began by trying to have her repeat sounds but, Nao didn't seem to be able to channel noise. Finally, she resorted to trying to teach her how to sigh loudly. The younger girl would breath out with some noise but, she couldn't seem to make any noise.

After a few hours, Yoon asked, "Nao, how long were you living in that cave?

Nao thought for a bit and held up four fingers, one of which was partially bent over.

"Is that four years or less?" Yoon asked

She pointed her thumb down.

"Less?"

Nao nodded.

"How old are you?" asked Yona.

She held up one finger on one hand and two on the other.

"Twelve?" Yona asked.

She nodded once again.

Then, suddenly, both Shin-ah and Nao tensed up. They looked right as the rest of them readied themselves for the possible fight.

"What is it?" whispered Yoon.

"Soldiers." Shin-ah explained. Nao nodded in agreement.

"What kind?" Hak asked.

"Not from the Sky Tribe." Shin-ah told them. (they were on Sky Tribe territory)

"Are they the ones after you, Nao dear?" Jaeha asked; only to find empty space where she had just been standing.

"Shin-ah, can you see her?" Yona asked.

He nodded and once again pointed in the direction he had seen the soldiers.

"Shall we go and help her?" Kija suggested.

They all nodded and followed Shin-ah to the battle sight. There were more men than there had been when Hak, Jaeha, and Shin-ah had seen Nao for the first time. But this time, rather than running around to exhaust them, she was simply fighting.

When they arrived, Hak, Jaeha, and Shin-ah began helping immediately, but the other four stopped in surprise. They had never seen her fight and marveled at her graceful, flawless movements. She sabotaged all arrows aimed at her and easily dodged deadly blows from other weapons.

They would have stood there until the battle was over if Hak had not called out to Kija saying, "What's wrong White Snake, are you scared of fighting these guys?"

"I was simply surprised." Kija announced, obviously miffed from Hak's insult.

Yona too began helping by shooting down archers aiming for her comrades. Zeno, seeing that he was barely needed, cheered them all on while shielding Yona from the arrows fired at her. It didn't take a very long time for all fighting to taper off. They tied all of the men up, and set them on a nearby road that was frequently traveled by. After that, the eight of them continued on their journey.

"Why did you run off on your own?" Hak asked.

Nao just shrugged.

"You really have been attacked a lot, Nao." Yona said after they began walking again.

She nodded, solemnly.

"Where did you learn to fight, Miss?" Zeno asked.

She shrugged.

"Someone would have had to teach you before you could fight those guys; even if it is just a little bit." Yoon reasoned.

Nao nodded.

"Did you learn after the soldiers started coming after you?" asked Yoon.

She shook her head.

"So, you learned before." He decided.

The young girl nodded in confirmation.

"It's getting dark," Hak observed, "we should set up camp."

After setting up camp, and eating dinner, everyone fell asleep in the cold winter air.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

That night, Jaeha took first watch. He was patrolling through the trees, making sure there wasn't anything suspicious happening. Everyone was asleep in their tents, including it seemed, the third tent that was set up for the first time that evening. It was a simple piece of cloth hooked at the top to a branch. The capacity was for one person; either curled up in a ball, or sitting against the tree. The green dragon was about to sit down in front of the largest tent when he saw the smallest tent rustle ever so slightly.

Jaeha quietly jumped into a tree to see what was happening around it. The front entrance stayed completely empty but, a small form emerged from a back entrance that was only visible when open. When it closed, it was once again invisible to the normal observer. The former inhabitant stood up and silently disappeared into the darkness.

Deciding that the camp would be fine, the soaring dragon followed as quietly as he could. It was difficult in the dark, without a presence to follow. But, she traveled at a leisurely pace, allowing for Jaeha to trail her successfully.

Nao walked very far into the forest. She walked so far that, even if any of the people in the campsite were awake, they wouldn't be able to hear or see anything she did. Jaeha, who was following closely behind her got worried that she was running away from them. But, she would have brought provisions and other necessities with her, he reasoned.

When Jaeha was about to turn back, she came to an abrupt halt. She gazed at the trees around her and walked up to one. The young girl then did something the green dragon didn't expect. She punched the tree squarely. Once she had observed the damage she had dealt it, she pulled out her sword. Faster than the eyes could follow, she sliced it through what seemed like the air. Jaeha learned a few seconds later, that it wasn't only air she hit. The entire tree fell to the ground with an impossibly straight cut separating the two pieces.

Nao approached the tree she had just taken down. She began to remove the bark, bewildering her stalker. She completed it very quickly and took out her sword again. The girl made a series of cuts that were impossible to see. When the wood broke, Jaeha finally understood what she had been doing the entire time. There were three wooden swords that appeared from the splinters that were the remains of the tree.

She then collected the swords she had created and headed back. Jaeha decided to make one large jump all the way to the campsite. He reached it far before she did and sat in front of the largest tent. The green dragon was unaware of when she arrived back at the camp but, when his shift was almost over, Nao came out of her tent and sat next to him.

"Aren't you tired? If you want, I could get Hak to watch now." Jaeha asked.

She shook her head and looked at him. Her face was softly illuminated by the moonlight. The look on her face told Jaeha that she knew that he had been following her the entire time. But, she didn't seem mad.

Nao then shooed him into the large tent so that she could take over. Before he fell asleep, his last glimpse was of her settling down in front of the tents.


End file.
